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The First Inquisition
"Silence!" boomed the Lord's thunderous voice. Silence overcame the courtroom. "Enemies of the Glaze, quake and shiver. You will be found, you will face my judgement." :: ''-Lord Maximus Himself.'' The very first Inquisition was formed shortly after the events of the Holy Hierarchy Wars, in the Second Era. The ruling family at the time, the Hard-Glazed Phillimonjios, found their newly formed Empire in utter ruin, as a result of their holy wars. The common rabble did not recognize the authority of their new lords, as instead they partook in anarchistic mayhem to stay alive in the battle-torn lands. Even though the new Holy Hierarchy was bleeding, it did not have any true enemies remaining. To the West the filthy dark-hide tribes were scattered and destroyed, in the East the squabbling Princes would take another two hundred years before their Empire was anything of note, and in the North there was nothing but tales of crazed old men in the woods calling themselves Blade Druids. The Phillimonjios House were fully aware that there was no outside threats to their rule. All that remained were the threats within. For the first time in the history, the very first calling of nobility was sent out to all across the known Hierarchy. Every man of power, from business people to wealthy families, to military generals and most importantly the keepers of the Faith, all came to partake in the first Royal Senate. The weak minded fools were put in their place, while the strong and influential would come to cement their power for an entire generation to come. These men would become the first of the Glazic Noble Stature, but even with their great power they surely hungered for more. The nobility elected their First Citizen, the glorious Lord Maximus - an easy choice, there was no doubt to it. He would be the one to call forth arms against any who threaten the Glaze, even those within it. An enemy from Within A few decades have passed since the first Royal Senate hearing, and the Holy Hierarchy had finally managed to take firm control of its people. Indeed, the commoners were put in their place, the rabble quieted, the dark-hides put to slave labor, and a new Church was erected in the light of holy Glaze. Yet the Holy Hierarchy's first true test of their power was soon upon them. Trouble was brewing at court, with many noble houses voicing their distaste of the Phillimonjios House hoarding all the true power to themselves. They thought nothing of it at first, petty drama from envious men surely - until members of the Phillimonjios household began to go missing, one by one. Blaming it upon the rival houses, the Phillimonjios started hiring killers to slit the throats of their perceived enemies as retaliation. The other houses would have none of it, for in truth they were not the ones responsible for the abductions. Calling forth their appointed Minsters armies, blood once again was spilled in the Holy Hierarchy. The scholars made sure to note in great detail Lord Maximus' ferocious and authoritarian swagger as he marched into the halls of the Royal Senate. With his booming voice he silenced the room, calling forth the three top lords of the Phillimonjios family. With one single swing of his mighty blade, he cleaved off all three of their heads, letting their lifeless bodies slump to the floor in tremendous synchronization. The court room was in shock, but Lord Maximus remained still in his resolve. He pointed to the three bodies, exposing them of their black blood that oozed from their torn necks. Indeed, a great heresy was upon the Holy Hierarchy. The mutant scourge that would later be known as the Black-Hats have infiltrated the Royal Senate, by wearing the skins of the noble stature - walking in their flesh as horrific puppeteers, seeking to bring down an Empire from within. Rise and fall of the Holy Inquisition Lord Maximus selected the most trusted of his advisers to organize the creation of the Holy Inquisition. Vance Heimann the First was a man of practicality. While any ordinary Minister would simply pick the strongest of his army, Vance instead looked to the common folk, seeking honest men over brutish warriors. He selected a band of simple hunters from a large forest, those who rely upon their skills of tracking and killing in order to stay alive. It did not take long for them to be trained for the part, as many of these men had already faced many vile witches of the great woods, who preyed upon men such as them for sacrifice. The true struggle was teaching these men the complexities of court, a vital skill that they would never truly grasp, which later led to their downfall. They were given their arms, their books of law, and were finally set out upon the Royal Senate, their new hunting grounds. It only took a single month for the remainder of the Black-Hats to be sought out and defeated. Whispers here, a bribe of coin there, and a trail of footprints that led to a guilty fool. The first of the Black-Hat infiltrators were easy to discover, for all it took was a simple cut from a dagger to reveal their black blood for all to see. The deception grew deeper when the Black-Hats hid their true colors through witchcraft. This only increased the Inquisition's power, as they were now allowed to carry out accusations on even red blooded men. Many were accused, and all were executed, guilty or not. Any forces of retaliation that they cooked up from their ranks of mutant men were firmly smited by Lord Maximus and his holy army. The home village of the Black-Hats were uncovered through various means of interrogation, and before the armies could arrive to give these mutant freaks a worthy genocide, they came to discover that the last of their kind had all killed themselves in a mass suicide in the village square. The Inquisition had succeeded in their task tenfold, marking the complete extinction of the Black-Hat scourge. A little bit of corruption, some sin and secrets behind closed doors are the gears by which the Royal Senate operates. Too much duty and dedication can sometimes be a bad thing, as the Inquisition would soon discover. Indeed they succeeded in their task, destroying the greatest threat to the Holy Hierarchy thus far, but now they looked further into the noble stature to discover hidden evils. At first they tolerated their snooping, until they began exposing Ministers, Nobility, and even men of Faith. Every single branch by which the Hierarchy was governed were facing equal, unrestrained political assassinations, with no motivation other than the various Inquisitor's sense of duty. Lord Maximus had no other option than to officially disband the Holy Inquisition, returning the men to their forest where they would live out their remaining life as simple hunters. Of course, the offended nobility would later send out hired helpers to retrieve these honest men, sending the former Inquisitors to their personal torture rooms where they would never leave. Although the Inquisition was now gone, their work would not go unnoticed by the few faithful nobility who watched as the Royal Senate's corrupt ways were exposed for all to see. Vance Heimann and his legacy would later cause the destruction of the Royal Senate, birthing the Small Council in its place.